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Don't Be Afraid To Share

Most people are familiar with sharing things on social media. It seems to be an everyday occurrence for some to share the events or emotions of their day. A couple of weeks ago Darrell Martin happened to share something on Facebook that led to him being able to learn something even more.

He had taken a week to travel with his daughter, Felicity, to several clinics to learn more from the best of the best about horses and rodeos. During this time, they learned about hackamores. You may not know what a hackamore is, so take a look at the picture below.

The green arrow points to the Hackamore. This is used instead of a bit. However, many people do not know the proper placement of the hackamore and put it lower along the horse’s nose, close to its mouth. In doing so, it actually cuts off the horse’s air supply. Basically, when the reins are pulled, it is as if you are holding its nose, which will cause the horse to shake its head. You would do the same thing if someone were on your back and holding your nose. If you could not breathe from your mouth, you’d get upset, too! Martin learned the proper placement of the hackamore and posted this on Facebook.

Soon Jackie Jatzlau, a top American and NFR (National Finals Rodeo) rider who follows Felicity's accomplishments, a real pro, posted that he also needed to adjust the chain that goes behind the tie down. The chain is in the wrong place in the image above, which prompted the response from Jackie. This minor adjustment would apply the proper pressure and keep the horse’s head focused when he’s going around the barrels. It is easily adjusted on the other side of the horse, not shown in this picture. Martin would not have learned this if he had not posted what he thought he knew.

Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. You don’t know what you don’t know, until someone who does know, sees it and tells you.

Instead of trying to be “the expert,” you have to be able to say this is what I learned, let me share it with you. Then you have to be open to someone saying, hey! You need to fix this piece also and you do. You would not have known to fix these things unless you share.

You may look at things and think it looks a little off, but you’re not the expert on horse gear or whatever. So, you put yourself out there with the potential of being wrong, of being corrected and of being better. In the case of the hackamore, it helped the horse and his daughter on the road to being the best they can be.

If the post had not been shared, the simple fix of the placement of the hackamore and the chain might have turned into an ongoing search of a different supplement or bit or even a different training technique for Felicity to master. Instead, it was only making sure that the horse was able to get the right amount of air supply by having the hackamore in the proper position.

As a trader, you want to look good. You want to look like you know what you are doing and that you know everything. You do not want to put yourself out there for fear of looking like a fool.

A big mistake traders make is not sharing their charts. You want to be able to say, “Here’s what I did and here is why I did it. What do you think? Can I do it better? Am I doing it right? Shall I keep doing it?”

If you think that you can figure trading it by yourself, all alone in your little cave, watching the same video 45 times, reading 10 more books, or going to 3 more seminars, but not putting yourself out there to be corrected, you will continue to make mistakes you don’t even know you are making. You will blame it on the wrong thing. You must share your charts in order to learn.

It is usually not software, technology or system errors, but usually trader errors. Many times, it is the trader’s risk management or trying to understand something correctly, and you need someone to help you see that. The best way to do this, is to share what you are learning and doing. Share it in your chat room.

Whether it is horses, trading or something else in which you are involved, you need to be able to put yourself out there and not be afraid to share. It is when you share, you can learn.